Either of ... Neither of ... Either ... or... Neither ... nor ...

Remember, there are three different ways to answer a Neither/Either question.

Either ... or ... / Neither ... nor ...

We use this when there are two nouns provided in the question.

Eg. Tom is used to sleeping late. Mary is used to sleeping late too.

Ans: Either Tom or Mary is used to sleeping late.

Please note that the verb in Either or / Neither nor follows the second noun. In the example above, we have to use 'is' as it has to follow the second noun which is 'Mary'.

Either of ... / Neither of ...

We use this when there are nouns which can be grouped together.

Eg. The dress over there looks unique. The dress here looks unique too.

Ans: Neither of the dresses looks normal.

Please note that it is not advisable to educate your child to answer using this. In fact, we educate children to only use either of/neither of when the word 'of' is provided after either/neither.

The reason for not using this answering technique as often as either or/neither nor is due to the complication in tenses.

When you have either of / neither of, you have to answer with a plural noun - 'the dresses'. However, the verb has to be in singular form -'looks' as neither of means none and either of means one.

It is so complicated and there are so many tenses to note that it is very common for children to write the wrong tenses resulting in careless mistakes.

A small error in synthesis is equivalent to a ZERO !

Thus, there is no point risking unless it is needed.